Rio de Janeiro, August 13: Boxer Vikas Krishan Yadav and tennis stars Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna brought some much needed cheer as the Indian contingent continued their flop show at the ongoing 31st Olympic Games here.
Vikas defeated Onder Sipal of Turkey 3-0 to enter the quarter-finals of the men’s Middleweight (75kg) category here on Friday.
Vikas, who is just one win away from a medal, will face Bektemir Melikuziev of Uzbekistan for a berth in the last four stage.
Sania and Bopanna meanwhile, entered the semi-finals of the mixed doubles tennis event by defeating Andy Murray and Heather Watson of Britain in straight sets.
The Indians won their quarter-final match 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and seven minutes at the Olympic Tennis Centre.
The fourth seeded Indian duo dominated their British opponents with both Sania and Bopanna coming with some fine work at the net and excellent returns of serve.Sania and Bopanna, who now need just one win to ensure a medal, are expected to face a tough challenge in their next match as they will take on the US team of Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram for a place in the final.
Meanwhile, rower Dattu Bhokanal on Saturday topped the Final C in men’s single sculls to finish 13th at the Rio Olympic Games here.
Already out of medal contention, Dattu topped the final ranking race in 6:54.96 minutes, which was best among the four races he participated in the Games.
But the rest of the day was mostly disappointing for Indian fans with Shooters Gagan Narang and Gurpreet Singh and shot putter Vikas Gowda also added to India’s woes.
In golf, India’s S.S.P. Chawrasia and Anirban Lahiri scored even-par 71 and two-over 73 to finish tied 30th and joint 51st respectively after the second round.
Lalita Babbar shattered the national record in the women’s 3,000 metre Steeplechase to qualify for the final round at the Rio Olympics here on Saturday.
Lalita finished fourth fastest, clocking 9 minutes 19.76 seconds in the Round 1 Heat 2 at the Olympic Stadium to end overall seventh among the 15 qualifiers.
Meanwhile, another Indian in the fray, Sudha Singh failed to qualify for the final round after finishing a distant 30th in the overall rankings. She clocked 9 minutes 43.29 seconds in Round 1 Heat 3.
India’s women’s hockey team was crushed by higher-ranked Argentina 0-5 to suffer fourth consecutive loss in Pool B and failed to advance to the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games here on Saturday.Martina Cavallero (16th and 29th minutes), Maria Granatto (23rd), Carla Rebecchi (26th) and Agustina Albertarrio (27th) scored for the world No.2 side.
With this loss, India remained in the sixth spot, while the United States, Britain, Australia and Argentina made it to the quarter-finals.
The Indian men’s hockey team also continued their inconsistent performance and were held 2-2 by lower-ranked Canada in their final game in Pool B.
Already assured of a place in the quarter-finals, world No.5 India played an attacking game but had to wait for 33 minutes to break the deadlock. Akashdeep Singh made it 1-0 for India after scoring on a penalty corner rebound.
But world No.15 Canada took few second to make it 1-1 with a successful penalty corner conversion from captain Scott Tupper.
Ramandeep Singh deflected a ball in near the right post from a long slap from V.R. Raghunath to make it 2-1 for India in the 41st minute. Tupper brought Canada on level with a successful penalty corner conversion in the 52nd minute.
Later, India got plenty of opportunities but failed to scored the winner.
With this draw, India dropped to the fourth spot in the pool with seven points, while Canada ended their campaign with a point and are now out of the Games. The Netherlands and two-time defending champions Germany occupy the first two positions with 10 points each but the latter are ahead on goal difference.
India will now face a tough challenge against a strong Belgium team in the quarter-finals on Sunday.
